Blagojevich, a Children’s Hospital and Medicaid’s Stingy Ways

By Sarah Rubenstein

Associated Press

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich talks to the media outside his house before jogging.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s alleged attempt to extract a $50,000 campaign contribution from the CEO of Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago was tied to the executive’s efforts to increase pay for specialists treating kids under Medicaid.

Turns out that Children’s Memorial and some other hospitals were trying to get the state to increase Medicaid pay for doctors, including neurologists and endocrinologists, WSJ reports this morning.

Illinois ranks 42nd of 50 states in how much it pays physicians under Medicaid. Many pediatric specialists in Illinois simply refuse to treat indigent Medicaid children, leaving kids with complex conditions such as diabetes or epilepsy in the lurch.

According to an FBI affidavit, Blagojevich decided to approve $8 million in new funds for Children’s Memorial for Medicaid, but later told an aide he was considering changing his mind because the CEO of the hospital, Patrick M. Magoon, hadn’t contributed $50,000 to his campaign fund. (Magoon had contributed $1,000 in October 2007, according to filings with the Illinois State Board of Elections.)

Neither the governor’s office nor the hospital would comment. The $8 million in new state aid still hasn’t been approved. Children’s Memorial told the Chicago Tribune last week that nobody at hospital, including Magoon, participated in the alleged scheme with the governor.

Over the weekend NPR’s Scott Simon summed up the shock, even among hard-bitten watcher’s of Windy City politics, in the WSJ like this:

Many shameless politicians would send free turkeys to a children’s hospital. The publicity is good, and it might help them sleep at night. But this governor was willing to stint on their care if a hospital official didn’t oblige him with cash.